The National Maritime Museum – Haifa

Historic background: the National Maritime Museum is dedicated to the history of seamanship at the Mediterranean Basin, the Red Sea and the banks of the Nile, and its exhibits reflect five thousand years of naval history. It has its beginning in 1953 with the private collection of the late Aryeh Ben-Eli, the museum’s founder and first director. The institute has gone a long way from a single floor at the Seamen House on Hanamal street to its expansive new residence on 198 Allenby street, inaugurated in 1972.

What’s at the site: the permanent exhibition is arranged chronologically and is divided into sections, marking the connection between man and sea along the years. The exhibition is dedicated to the following subjects: submarine archaeology, marine art, marine mythology, ancient anchors, Greco-Roman coins, scientific apparatuses, accumulation pitchers in ancient marine trade, cartography and graphics, new seamanship and ship construction. The main elements of the exhibition are the ship models and submarine archaeological findings: crockery, coins and seals. In addition to the permanent exhibitions there are also altering exhibitions of the museum’s collections and exhibitions of sea related works by Israeli and foreign artists.

For the general public: the museum offers tours for groups and general public leading the visitors through the permanent and occasionally altering exhibitions.

For children: activities for children and families on Saturdays and holidays: exhibition guidance, art workshops on a various themes related to the different exhibitions, such as: creation of a ship in a bottle, inspired by the art of seamen, creating clay statuettes, a personal pirate island and more